Franco-Gabonese Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard is an entrepreneur with an inspiring story.

He started his journey from humble beginnings, pouring his life savings into setting up his own company – the African Press Organization (APO) – in 2007. His goal was to provide international and African media with access to reliable news about the continent’s economy, business, and investment news.

It might have seemed like a gamble, but Nicolas defied the odds. He soon abandoned his career as a journalist for online Gabonese media ‘Gabonews’, and, over the last 15 years, APO Group (as the company is now known) has grown into the leading Pan-African communications consultancy and press release distribution service.

APO Group is changing the narrative about Africa, helping communicators relay compelling, uniquely African stories to audiences all over the world.

With close to 100 employees, and more than 300 clients, APO Group reported increased revenue of 88% in the first semester of 2022, versus the same period in 2021.

Some of APO Group’s prestigious clients include FIFA, Facebook, Nestlé, NBA, the Basketball Africa League (BAL), Canon, Coca-Cola, DHL, Marriott Group, Ecobank, Liquid Intelligent Technology, Siemens, Standard Chartered, Orange, Jack Ma Foundation, African Development Bank, World Health Organization, Islamic Development Bank, Rotary International, Kaspersky, Greenpeace, the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), the governing body of the Olympic Movement in Africa, among others.

Nicolas is also a judge at the Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH), Jack Ma Foundation’s flagship philanthropic program spotlighting and celebrating Africa’s entrepreneurial talent and promoting entrepreneurship skills.

He was among six judges who recently came to Rwanda for the semi-finals held at Kigali Convention Center on 30th September 2022, during which a Rwandan, Francine Munyaneza, emerged among ten finalists to share Jack Ma’s US$1.5M Prize.

Her company, Munyax Eco Company targets solving Rwanda’s energy challenges in rural and urban areas by providing solar equipment made and tested in Africa.

During his week-long stay in Rwanda, IGIHE sat with Nicolas to talk about his entrepreneurial journey, the efforts needed to shape a positive narrative about Africa, APO Group’s partnership with the Catholic Church in Africa, and other topics of interest.

APO Group has been in operation for the past 15 years. Briefly tell us what the journey has been like?

APO Group was created in 2007 as a press release distribution service.
Today, we have two business units: A press release distribution division and a Public Relations division. We are Pan-African in everything we do. We operate in each of the 54 markets of the continent - including Eritrea and Somaliland, where establishing relationships with media can be very challenging. There is not a single country on the continent where we have not delivered our services.

We provide services to more than 300 hundred clients, many of them multinational companies such as Canon, Ecobank and Liquid Intelligent Technology. We are also working with international institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Sports Organizations, with organizations like FIFA, the Jack Ma Foundation, and the African Development Bank (AfDB) among our customers.

We are the Main Official Sponsor of Rugby Africa, the governing body of rugby in Africa, and the strategic partner of the Association of National Olympic Committee of Africa (ANOCA). We are also an Official Partner of Olympic de Marseille, and of Team Qhubeka, the only African professional cycling team.

Our work is to provide Public Relations, media relations, and digital marketing services to our clients all over Africa.

AE News